Unit 3: Introduction to Writing across the Disciplines • Grade 11/12

Lesson 3
Writing in the Humanities
Table of Contents

Learning Competencies 1
Specific Objectives 1
Learning Content 1
Topic 1
Materials 1
Reference 1
Time frame: 90 minutes 2
Learning Activities 2
Essential Question 2
Motivation 2
Warm Up! 2
Lesson Proper 3
Springboard 3
Review 3
Presentation of Lesson 3
Discussion 4
Evaluation 6
Writing Prompts 6
Values Integration 12
Synthesis 12
Synthesis Activity 12
Possible Answers to the Essential Question 12
Assignment 13
 Unit 3: Introduction to Writing across the Disciplines • Grade 11/12

Unit 3 | Introduction to Writing across the

Disciplines
Lesson 3: Writing in the Humanities

Learning Competencies
The learner
● explains how one’s purpose is a crucial consideration in academic and professional
writing (EN11/12RWS-IVdg-11); and
● identifies the unique features of and requirements in composing texts that are
useful across disciplines (EN11/12RWS-IVdg-12).

Specific Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the learner should be able to
● identify various writings in the humanities;
● describe the features of the typical writings in the humanities; and
● write a critique and review of humanities-related texts.

Learning Content
A. Topic
Writing in the Humanities

B. Materials
● Presentation slides
● Copies of "An Analysis of 'A Respectable Woman': Interweaving the Feminist and
Moralist Approaches" by Kristina Esposo
● Copies of the writing prompts

C. Reference
Quipper Study Guide: Reading and Writing Skills Unit 3: Introduction to Writing
across the Disciplines

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 Unit 3: Introduction to Writing across the Disciplines • Grade 11/12

D. Time frame: 90 minutes

Learning Activities

Essential Question
1. If using technology, refer to slide 4 of the slide presentation.
2. If not using technology, write this on the board:
“How can we convince our readers to agree with our claims when writing a
humanities-related text?”
3. Let the students think about the question for a minute, then call on a few to give
their answers. Make sure that the responses tell how one can convince readers to
agree with his or her claims when writing a humanities-related text.

A. Motivation

Warm Up!

Dyad Activity

Ask the students to find a partner. Instruct them to read and examine the text below
then answer the questions in the table. You may ask them to read the text in their
study guide. Once they have read the text and answered the questions in the table,
ask them to share their answers in class.

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is revolutionary in nature, as Nora challenges the “woman” in
Hannah Arendt’s observations of patriarchal polities such as temperament, sex role, and status, as
noted by Kate Millett in her work. Temperament refers to the stereotyped personalities based on sex
category—males as aggressive, females as submissive. Sex role denotes that a woman is to raising
children and taking care of household, while a man is to being successful to whatever field he
pursues. The male, as always, is superior in status, while the female is inferior. Nora defied these
patriarchal polities when she turned into an assertive and subversive woman by leaving Torvald
and their children, expressing her desire to rediscover herself away from the norms that kept her

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 Unit 3: Introduction to Writing across the Disciplines • Grade 11/12

from “her.”

What is the Is the topic or claim Are there any Does the text What is the
purpose of debatable? Does the abstract nouns have point of view of
the text? topic cause readers in the text? Are denotations and the text? Does it
to propose the word connotations? use first-person
counterarguments? choices less or third-person
specific? pronouns?

B. Lesson Proper

Springboard

The teacher may say, “Like writings in the sciences and writings in business, writings
in the humanities have certain features that set them apart from other kinds of
writing. In this lesson, you will learn more about the characteristics of good writing
in the humanities.”

Review

Ask the students the following questions to tap into their background knowledge on the
topic:
● What fields are related to the humanities?
● What do you think is the focus of writings in the humanities?

Presentation of Lesson

1. After presenting the questions for the review, proceed to the lesson proper.
2. If using technology, start from slide 9 of the slide presentation.
Presentation File Link

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 Unit 3: Introduction to Writing across the Disciplines • Grade 11/12

Discussion

After discussing the concepts in the study guide, you may show the students the
sample text below for further discussion. You may print copies of the text from
here.

An Analysis of “A Respectable Woman”:

Interweaving the Feminist and Moralist Approaches
Kristina Esposo

Kate Chopin’s “A Respectable Woman” is a remarkable piece of literature, as it

effectively portrayed the expectations of a woman in 19th-century society. The
short story shows the readers a woman abiding by what is ethical and appropriate
despite a strong urge to do the opposite. However, it also raises the question of
equality between sexes and how culture and society has put women on a
pedestal, making them feel that they will be judged harshly if they do not live up
to society’s expectations. Women’s liberty to do anything is always viewed through
critical lenses.

In an era when a married woman is expected to follow her husband’s wants, Mrs.
Baroda meets the standard very well. She receives her husband’s friends and
accommodates them the best way she could. She may have shared rants and
complaints to her husband, but she still accomplished her duty as a wife. Thus,
considering the societal norms during Chopin’s time, it can be seen that women
are expected to behave and fulfill their duties without complaints. Any misconduct
earns admonition and reproach from the community.

Are women only meant to function as executors of their husbands’ societal

whims? Who is a respectable woman? The protagonist is only known as Mrs.
Baroda. She is not given any identity except for her title. Her activities are all for
the satisfaction of her husband, like accommodating his friends and taking care of
him. When she wanted to do something for herself, she polices herself and
repeatedly tells herself that she is a respectable woman. Here lies the intertwined
connection between morality and feminism. Societal beliefs and expectations on
women are challenged. Chopin seems to question the moral value of abiding only
by men’s wishes and not paying attention to her own wants. While this story is
lauded as a feminist commentary on society, it also asks society to reconsider its
treatment of women.

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 Unit 3: Introduction to Writing across the Disciplines • Grade 11/12

The given is an example of a literary critique of Kate Chopin’s short story “A

Respectable Woman.” The writer examines the overall message of the short story
using the moralist and feminist approaches. It serves the purpose of making a
person understand the humanistic value of the text, such as acknowledging that the
desires of a woman (Mrs. Baroda) is human nature and that the way a person reacts
to a situation (for example in the text, Mrs. Baroda feels attraction toward her
husband’s friend) is a reflection of the circumstances that surround a person.
However, aside from tackling human nature, it also shows an analysis of how
women are treated in Kate Chopin’s era. It challenges society’s expectations of a
woman, especially a married woman like Mrs. Baroda.

The sample text poses a debatable claim at the beginning of the essay. The writer
says, “Women’s liberty to do anything is always viewed through critical lenses.” A
counterargument may be raised for this claim. The writer centers on more
philosophical and rhetorical questions that can be answered in multiple ways
depending on someone’s perspectives and their reigning beliefs. The writer also
uses less formal and less direct language by incorporating figurative language that
contributes to the impact of the analysis on its audience. Examples of the figurative
language used are “put women on a pedestal,” “viewed through critical lenses,” and
“she polices herself.” Third-person pronouns are used in the analysis.

Guide Questions:

1. What is the central idea in the sample text?

2. How did the writer share her ideas and opinions regarding the raised issue?
3. Do you think the text is a good critique? Why or why not?
4. What features of writing in the humanities are used in the text?

Web Box

This link shows a helpful guide on the conventions of writing in the humanities. It
includes dos and don’ts in writing. You may give the students the link to provide
them with more information about the topic.

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Evaluation
Writing Prompts

Ask the students to work on the following writing tasks. You may print out copies of the
prompts from here.

Read the text below and answer the questions that follow.

The Tragedy of Fate and the Tragedy of Culture:

Heinrich von Kleist’s The Schroffenstein Family
Steven Howe

Heinrich von Kleist is without doubt one of the most challenging figures in German
literary history. In a career lasting a little under a decade, from 1802 through to his
premature death in 1811, he produced a remarkable body of creative work that
radically called into question the prevailing intellectual, aesthetic and ethical
orthodoxies of the age. Today, Kleist is perhaps most familiar, certainly to British
audiences, as the dramatist behind the violently tragic Penthesilea and the brilliantly
enigmatic The Prince of Homburg, and as the author of a series of daring and dramatic
short stories, including Michael Kohlhaas, The Marquise of O…, and The Earthquake in
Chile. Altogether less well-known, however (notwithstanding Eric Bentley’s adaptation
in German Requiem), is his first major literary production, the five act play The
Schroffenstein Family, published in 1803. Aside from a brief premiere at the National
Theatre in Graz in January 1804, the drama found little immediate resonance, and it
has traditionally been regarded as belonging to the second class of the author’s
imaginative work. Kleist, for his part, also seems to have attached little value to the
piece, referring to it in a letter to his sister, Ulrike, as a ‘wretched botched job’. That
the drama suffers from the defects one might expect of the first work of a young poet
is a point that few would demur: the language is overwrought, the plot convoluted,
and the entire exposition lacks the refined touch which Kleist was later to perfect.
That being said, the play nonetheless contains a number of scenes and episodes
which provide an early glimpse of the author’s promise and genius, and introduces
several of the most significant themes and features which were to subsequently
become a hallmark of his poetics.

The action of the drama revolves around the conflict between the rival houses of

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Rossitz and Warwand, and the fate of two star-crossed lovers, Ottokar and Agnes. The
imaginative debt to Romeo and Juliet is plain to see, and Kleist hews closely to the
model of Shakespeare’s tragedy, though with one significant variation – the two
feuding houses are here different branches of the same family. The origins of the
conflict extend from a testamentary contract, according to which the property of
either house should fall to the other branch if the line of descent is broken. This
breeds an atmosphere of mistrust, as both houses suspect one another of pursuing
its demise, and particularly that of its heirs. When the younger son of Count Rupert,
head of the Rossitz branch of the family, dies in unexplained circumstances, his
suspicions thus fall directly on his counterpart, Count Sylvester, and the drama opens
with him compelling his immediate family to swear an oath of bloody and absolute
vengeance against the entire house of Warwand.

The tragic trajectory of the play is set by the issue that Ottokar, the elder son of
Rupert, partakes in this oath-swearing, unaware that the girl with whom he has fallen
in love, Agnes, is the daughter of Sylvester. Once alerted to the fact, he is convinced by
Agnes of her father’s innocence in the matter of the child’s death and attempts to
negotiate a reconciliation between the warring counts. His efforts are thwarted,
however, by Rupert’s burning hatred for Sylvester and his untameable lust for
revenge. Upon learning of his son’s clandestine affair, Rupert resolves to murder
Agnes, and when the two lovers secretly meet at a mountain cave, he and his vassal,
Santing, accost them. In an attempt to deceive his father and protect his beloved,
Ottokar exchanges clothes with Agnes; failing to note the switch in the darkness,
Rupert stabs his own son to death, whereupon the presently arriving Sylvester follows
suit by murdering Agnes in the mistaken belief that she is Ottokar. Ironically – or
perhaps appropriately – it falls to the blind grandfather, Sylvius, to recognise the true
identities of the two victims and reveal the double filicide. At the play’s end, an old
widow, Ursula, discloses the true state of affairs, namely that Rupert’s son’s death was
accidental – he drowned in a forest brook. With the misunderstanding resolved, a
despairing reconciliation follows, and the drama closes with the mad-driven bastard
son of the Rossitz house, Johann, addressing Ursula as master and personification of
fate.

That the mechanisms of fate and chance do serve as an important motor for the
action of the drama is very much an accepted commonplace in interpretive criticism.
In his personal letters, Kleist reveals a fascination with the unknowable powers of
contingency and coincidence that intrude upon and shape the life of the individual,
and such concerns penetrate to the core of many of his literary works: time and again,

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he confronts his characters with situations over which they have no control and to
which they must then react. In Schroffenstein, chance happenings are heaped upon
one another in such a way as to both blunt much of the originality of the constellation,
and to strain reader credulity after the fashion of the Gothic tale – it is not without
reason that Matthew G. Lewis’s The Monk has been cited as a possible source of
inspiration. The outcome is a demonstration of the operations of fate and
contingency which, viewed in a narrow sense, seems at times laboured and contrived.
The design of the inquiry is, however – in a further parallel to Romeo and Juliet –
overlaid with a deeper disquisition on the limitations of human awareness. Ursula’s
laconic words to Rupert and Sylvester, ‘If you kill one another, it is an error’, acquire, in
this context, special relevance, pointing as they do towards the movement of error
and the instances of misunderstanding that drive the action to its tragic close. Here
one can detect the influence of Kleist’s encounter with Kantian philosophy, which
appears to have shattered his faith in the possibilities of absolute truth and
knowledge. The fallibility of perception emerges, as a consequence, as a dominant
theme and subject of reflection in Kleist’s work, and remains so across his entire
literary corpus. In Schroffenstein, this manifests itself through the frequent recurrence
of error and confusion, bred by the characters’ inability to communicate and their
attendant susceptibility to misreading reality. Typically, Kleist drives the issue towards
aesthetic extremes, crafting an enveloping atmosphere of illusion, deceit and
suspicion within the extended family which, in turn, calls forth gruesome acts of
vengeance and retributive violence. In this regard, the drama can perhaps be seen as
the most Jacobean and Sturm und Drang-like of Kleist’s works – as a grizzly, though at
times darkly comedic, exploration of the workings of fate and the human capacity for
misunderstanding, and of their effects in unleashing man’s violent potentialities.

It would be misleading, however, to suggest that the tragedy be approached solely

through the lens of metaphysical and epistemological concerns. For the very issue of
error that stands at the heart of the drama raises the question of interpretation, and
with it that of the extent to which cultural and social codes give shape to the
individual’s understandings and perceptions. In particular, the text displays how the
nature of the conflict between the two houses fosters a socially-conditioned prejudice
that colours and impairs judgement, and which speaks to a deeper cultural critique
embedded within the drama. The major point of reference and orientation here is
Jean-Jacques Rousseau who, in his Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, both put into
question the Enlightenment faith in human progress and delivered a searing assault
on the conditions of modernity. The opening scene of the play already bears the mark
of Rousseau’s sway: when Rupert’s wife, Eustache, refers to her natural feminine

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tenderness in response to his calls for her to swear the oath of vengeance, he objects,
‘Nothing more of nature. It is but a sweet, delightful fairytale from childhood’. What
follows does so under the sign of Rousseau’s condemnation of man’s fall from natural
goodness into socio-moral decay: the terms of the inheritance contract, for instance,
as both agent and symbol of the conflict between Rupert and Sylvester, casts into
relief the lure of wealth and property, the original idée fixe, which Rousseau identifies
as a root cause of modern inequality and conditions of violence. In its presentation of
the trials of the lovers, meanwhile, the text also plays on the anthropology of identity
laid down in the Discourse, in which the dilemma of man’s ruinous modernity is
diagnosed in terms of the tensions between subject and world. In this instance, that
dilemma is telescoped through the relationship between love and society, with
Ottokar in particular forced to struggle with the contrast between the demands of his
father and his feelings for Agnes. In such a way, the text also points to a modern view
of identity as an active positioning of the self in relation to cultural discourses – a
theme to which Kleist was to frequently return, perhaps most notably in his portrayal
of the cross-cultural relationships between Gustav and Toni in The Betrothal in St.
Domingo, and between Achilles and Penthesilea in the drama of the latter name.

These fundamental tensions between nature and culture, between individual and
society, serve as a central axis for the greater part of Kleist’s literary oeuvre, and it is
perhaps in this sense, above all, that Schroffenstein can be seen to point the way
towards his later – and greater – dramatic achievements. On the one hand, his works
dwell on the onslaught of fate that upsets the secure ideals of enlightenment
rationalism; on the other, however, this aspect is only ever a corollary to a deeper
sense of the cultural rift between subject and world, and the attendant instabilities of
agency and identity. Behind this lies the experience of the French Revolution and the
turmoil it left in its wake, as existing hierarchies of power and status collapsed, and
Europe was plunged into a period of instability and conflict. Against this backdrop,
Kleist, like so many of his Romantic contemporaries, critically explores the paradigms
of eighteenth-century humanist discourse, taking up the tensions and paradoxes
embedded therein and exhibiting them in the full light of his imagination. In
particular, it is the complex relationship between nature and culture to which he time
and again returns, with most of his texts turning upon an exploration of the
psychological and moral conflicts between the individual and his or her environment.
Frequently, such struggles escalate to a sudden unleashing of the self, to acts of
violent rebellion or assimilation. It is this readiness to plumb the extreme depths of
human psychology and conduct under conditions of stress that lends Kleist’s work its
peculiar modernism, and which ensures that even now, some two hundred years on

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from his death, he retains the ability to excite, engage and trouble his readers.

1. What kind of writing in the humanities is the text?

2. What is the text all about?
3. What is the purpose of the text?
4. Do you think it was effective in fulfilling its purpose?
5. What characteristics of writing in the humanities are used in the text?

Choose a song about hard work or about social issues. Then, write a critique of the
song in 400 to 500 words. Your work will be graded using the rubric below.

Criteria Beginning Developing Accomplished Score

(1 point) (2–3 points) (4–5 points)

Content/ The strengths The strengths and The strengths and

Substance and weaknesses weaknesses of the weaknesses of
of the song are song are the song are
not explained. well-explained. well-explained.
The evaluation is The evaluation is The evaluation is
not supported with well-supported
well-supported details from the with details from
with details from song; however, the song.
the song. some claims are
unclear or
unsupported.

Organization There is no There is a logical There is a logical

logical and and smooth and smooth
smooth transition from transition from
transition from one idea to idea to another.
one idea to another although
another. it can still be
improved.

Unity Several given A given detail is All the given

details are irrelevant to the pieces of
irrelevant or topic. information are
unrelated to the related to the
topic. topic.

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Language There are seven There are four to There are zero to
(spelling, or more language six language errors three language
mechanics, errors in the text. in the text. errors in the text.
grammar, or
word choice)

Score:

Write a 400- to 500-word movie review on the latest movie you watched. Your work
will be graded using the rubric below.

Criteria Beginning Developing Accomplished Score

(1 point) (2–3 points) (4–5 points)

Content/ The plot The plot summary The plot

Substance summary is is accurate and summary is
accurate and brief. Two specific accurate and
brief. Only one scenes or brief. Three or
scene or cinematic more specific
cinematic elements are scenes or
element is evaluated with cinematic
evaluated with sufficient details. elements are
sufficient details. evaluated with
sufficient details.

Organization There is no There is a logical There is a logical

logical and and smooth and smooth
smooth transition from transition from
transition from one idea to idea to another.
one idea to another although
another. it can still be
improved.

Unity Several given A given detail is All the given

details are irrelevant to the pieces of
irrelevant or topic. information are
unrelated to the related to the
topic. topic.

Language There are seven There are four to There are zero to
(spelling, or more language six language errors three language

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 Unit 3: Introduction to Writing across the Disciplines • Grade 11/12

mechanics, errors in the text. in the text. errors in the text.

grammar, or
word choice)

Score:

Values Integration
Ask the students the following question to help them connect their learning to
real-world situations:
Aside from academic situations, in what other aspects of your life could you
use your knowledge about writing in the humanities?

Synthesis

Synthesis Activity

Evaluating Articles

1. Ask the students to find a partner.

2. Instruct them to look for two articles on the lifestyle section of a magazine or a
newspaper. Remind them that the articles must be an example of writing in the
humanities.
3. Tell them to evaluate the articles and identify their purposes and the features of
writing in the humanities that the writers have utilized.
4. Then, ask them to share their work in class.
5. Afterward, ask them the following questions:
a. From this activity, what other types of writing can be considered
humanities-related texts?
b. What do you think is the most challenging part of writing in the
humanities?

Possible Answers to the Essential Question

Possible answer 1: One way to convince readers to agree with one’s claims is by citing
reliable evidence to support the claims in the text.

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Possible answer 2: Writing in the humanities necessitates the use of claims and
judgments that are justifiable despite being debatable. Convincing the readers in this
kind of writing entails the effective presentation of opinions on a particular topic.

Assignment
Ask the student to do the following at home:

1. Instruct students to look for an example of a critique and a review.

2. In a short bond paper, ask them to write a short paragraph about each example by
answering the following questions:
a. What kind of writing in the humanities is the text?
b. What is the text all about?
c. What is the purpose of the text?
d. Do you think it was effective in fulfilling its purpose?
e. What characteristics of writing in the humanities are used in the text?

Criteria Score

Content
(Each question is answered well. Textual evidence is provided, and
opinions are clearly explained.) 5 pts.

Organization
(Logical progression of details; clear transitions between ideas) 3 pts.

Language
(Use of proper spelling, mechanics, grammar, and word choice) 2 pts.

Score: /10

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